Rollable fulcrum balancing board recreational and exercise device provided with non-linear stabilization features

ABSTRACT

A balancing board recreational device in which a fulcruming roller is confined within a cavity formed by a protuberant center portion occupying about two - thirds of the length of the balancing board. The undersurface of the protuberant center portion defines a long arc concave surface gently sloping away from the apex thereof to form motion slowing surfaces for the fulcruming roller. This fulcruming roller is a cylindrically shaped fulcrum analogous to a log. Outwardly from either end of the protuberant center portion, the balancing board is provided with upturned ends which form foot positioning trenches therefor.

United States Patent [191 England Related US. Application Data Division of Ser. No. 83,763, Oct. 26, 1970, Pat. No. 3,862,768.

Inventor:

US. Cl. 272/1 R; 272/60 R Int. Cl. A63B 23/04 Field of Search 272/1 R, 57 R, 57 A, 57 D,

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1/1967 Douglas 272/60 R 2/1967 Kawada 272/57 A UX 1/1970 Sasser, Jr. 272/1 R 9/1971 Tracy 272/57 A X July 22, 1975 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS Primary Examiner-Richard .1. Apley Assistant ExaminerR. T. Stouffer [57] ABSTRACT A balancing board recreational device in which a fulcruming roller is confined within a cavity formed by a protuberant center portion occupying about two thirds of the length of the balancing board. The undersurface of the protuberant center portion defines a long are concave surface gently sloping away from the apex thereof to form motion slowing surfaces for the fulcruming roller. This fulcruming roller is a cylindrically shaped fulcrum analogous to a log. Outwardly from either end of the protuberant center portion, the balancing board is provided with upturned ends which form foot positioning trenches therefor.

4 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures ROLLABLE FULCRUM BALANCING BOARD RECREATIONAL AND EXERCISE DEVICE PROVIDED WITH NON-LINEAR STABILIZATION FEATURES This Application is a Division of my original copending US. Patent Application Ser. No. 83,763 filed Oct. 26, 1970, now US. Pat. No. 3,862,768.

SUBJECT MATTER OF THE INVENTION The Invention relates generally to balancing type recreational devices and relates more specifically to teeter-totter type balancing recreational devices in which the fulcrum for such device is a rolling body.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION Among the more popular of the skill testing and balancing recreational devices of the past decade has been the skate board and the teeter-totter board version of a balancing board and log device. Although the teetertotter board and log involved primarily lateral balancing movement the flat balancing board on a log involved rapid and violent movement as the log approached either end of the flat balancing board with the result that very frequently the log fulcrum spun completely out from under the balancing board at one end or the other usually producing a violent spill in which the rider was exposed to dangers of spinal column and head injuries. Great skill was required to operate the device without incurring the dangers of serious bodily injury. It is therefore an object of this Invention to provide an analogous type of balancing recreational device in which the more violent motions of the device will be slowed by reactive forces invoked in the structure involved.

Another object of the Invention is to provide a balancing recreational device in which the rollable fulcrum will be confined within a cavity in the under surface of the balancing board.

Another object of the Invention is to provide a structure in balancing board recreational devices that will slow down the violent motion of the balancing board as either end of the balancing board approaches the rollable fulcrum.

Still another object of the Invention is to provide a self centering balancing board that will tend to return to a center neutral balanced position when the operator pauses.

A still further object of the Invention is to provide said balancing board recreational device with a footing trough that will reduce the dangers of the operator slipping off of the edge of the balancing board.

A still further object of the Invention is to create a recreational device that provides most if not all of the sensational breath-taking thrills of a skill manipulated balancing device without completely terrorizing new or inexperienced users of the device or parents of children learning to use the balancing board.

Other objects and advantages of this Invention will become apparent through consideration of the following description and appended claims in conjunction with the attached drawings in which:

DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a rider in operational position in one modified version of the log and teetertotter balancing board.

FIG. 2 is a horizontal cross section view of said log and modified teeter-totter type balancing board showing the concave area within which the log operates.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the underside of the log and teeter-totter balancing device illustrated in FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the cylindrical shaped log or fulcruming roller selected for use with the nonlinear teeter-totter balancing board version of the device with a shaded area on the bearing surface of said roller to indicate that it may be coated with a friction providing or motion slowing surface.

In describing one selected form of preferred embodiment of the Invention as shown in the drawings and this Specification, specific terms and components are used for clarity. However, it is not intended to limit the claimed Invention to the specific form, components, or construction shown and it is to be understood that specific terms used in this illustration of the Invention are intended to include all technical equivalents which operate in a similar manner to accomplish a similar purpose.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF INVENTION the teeter-totter balancing recreational device as illustrated in FIG. 1 is designated generally or as a whole by the number 11. Said non-linear teeter-totter balancing recreational device 11 is designed and constructed to ride on, be supported by and balanced on rollable fulcrum 12. The device could be constructed to ride and be balanced on a spherically shaped fulcrum without departing from the spirit and purpose of this Invention but in the embodiment illustrated in FIG. I and FIG. 2, FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 of the drawings herein the device is shown balanced and riding on a cylindrically shaped log or fulcruming roller 12 with said cylindrically shaped roller having a uniform diametrical crosssection from end to end of the roller and adapted to roll across a horizontal surface. Said cylindrically shaped fulcruming roller 12 is separately illustrated in FIG. 4 of the Drawings and performs the same function in this device as the so-called log performed in earlier teetertotter balancing boards.

Teeter-totter boards designed to ride on and be balanced on so-called cylindrically shaped logs have existed for some time in the recreational art together with a handful of minor refinements; but in each of the previous instances the balancing board has been provided with a straight or flat bearing surface which this Inventor chooses to refer to as a linear bearing surface since any part of the undersurface of said balancing board can be rolled over the fulcruming log or roller with equal ease. In the improved teeter-tooter balancing recreational device contemplated by this Invention the Inventor has chosen to call or define the rigid elongated balancing board structure a non-linear balancing board because the arc-shaped bearing surface on the under portion of said balancing board presents a long are curve for contact with and to be balanced on cylindrically shaped fulcruming roller 12 with the result that the resulting interaction between fulcruming roller 12 and non-linear balancing board 13 will be non-linear or nonuniform depending upon what portion of said long arc bearing surface on the underside of balancing board 13 is in contact with roller 12 at the particular moment.

Said non-linear balancing board 13 is a rigid elongated structure having a generally uniform width slightly greater than the length of cylindrically shaped fulcruming roller 12, with which said non-linear balancing board 13 must co-act, and generally have an overall length approximating the distance from the heel to the hip joint of the rider for whom the balancing device is designed. Said non-linear balancing board 13 is provided with a protuberant center portion 14 which occupies about two-thirds of the length of said balancing board as illustrated in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 of the Drawings with each end of said non-linear balancing board being provided with upturned end portions l-l5 which result in forming foot positioning trenches 16-16.

By examining FIG. 1, FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 of the drawings the reader will be able to observe that non-linear balancing board 13 with its protuberant center portion 14 is fairly easily balanced when the apex of the long are forming the undersurface 17 of said balancing board is resting on cylindrically shaped fulcruming roller 12 since this is a natural balanced or neutral center position. But it can also be observed that if a rider on said non-linear teeter-totter balancing board 13, positioned as illustrated in FIG. 1 of the Drawings, shifted his body weight back and forth laterally toward alternate ends of the device that non-linear balancing board 13 can be made to oscillate back and forth while still preserving its'balanced position on fulcruming roller 12. But it should also be noted that it takes progressively increasing vigorous or violent motions on the part of the rider to cause the gently sloping long are concave undersurface 17 of protuberant center portion 14 of said non-linear balancing board 13 to ride up on cylindrical fulcruming roller 12 as either end of said balancing board 13 approaches the rollable fulcrum. In fact the special shape of non-linear balancing board 13 makes it almost impossible for the rider to apply enough force to cause roller 12 to spin out from under non-linear balancing board 13 and the Inventor has chosen to define or to describe the increased resistance or increased reactive forces invoked as either end of said non-linear balancing board 13 climbs up on roller 12 as a non-linear stabilization feature or as non-linear motion slowing features. It may also be reasoned by examination of FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 and confirmed by experience with a prototype model of the device that the rate of interaction between non-linear balancing board 13 and cylindrical shaped fulcruming roller 12 is affected by the ratio of the radii of curvature of the concave undersurface 17 of center protuberant portion 14 of said non-linear balancing board and the radius of said fulcruming roller 12 on which the balancing board rides. For the purposes contemplated by this Invention the cylindrical shaped fulcruming roller on which the balancing board rides. In the prototype constructed for testing the device the Inventor employed a series of 4 inch, 6 inch, 8 inch, and 10 inch wooden logs for fulcruming roller 12. Em-

ployment of a rigid wooden roller analogous to a log made for somewhat fast action and substituting rollers of different size was utilized as a means of slowing the motion or action of the non-linear balancing board relative to cylindrically shaped fulcrum 12. The relative action between the curved bearing undersurface of the non-linear irregular shaped balancing board and fulcrum roller 12 is retarded or slowed in part by the special shape of said concave shaped undersurface 17 of said balancing board 11 and is slowed or controlled in part by the ratio of the radii of curvature of said concave undersurface 17 to the radius of cylindrical shaped fulcruming roller 12. By experimentation the Inventor has found that the preferred range of radii of curvature of the concave under surface 17 of the center portion of said irregular shaped balancing board 11 should have a range of four to one to 10 to one times the radius of the cylindrical shaped fulcruming roller 12 on which said hat shaped balancing board rides.

The magnitude of the reactive or motion slowing forces may be adjusted to meet the requirements of the designer by altering the radii of curvature of the concave undersurface of balancing board 13 to the radius of fulcruming roller 12 or by coating the bearing undersurface 17 of balancing board 13 with a motion slowing or friction providing material 19. Or alternatively the motion slowing or friction providing surfacing material 20 may be applied to the bearing surface of cylindrically shaped fulcruming roller 12 as indicated in FIG. 4. Perhaps an alternative way of slowing the action would be to employ a log or roller 12 fabricated from a moderately hard rubber or a material which has only a slight amount of flexiblity.

In order to further assist in keeping cylindrically shaped fulcruming roller 12 aligned and within the concave enclosure under protuberant center portion 14 of non-linear balancing board 13 the Inventor has provided vertical side wall boards 18-18 extending along each side of the protruberant center portion of said balancing board 13 as illustrated in FIG. 1 and FIG. 3 of the drawings herein.

OPERATION In order for a person to ride the non-linear teetertotter balancing board and log version of the Invention described in the foregoing Specifications the rider takes up a position on said teeter-totter' balancing board with one foot placed in each of the foot positioning trenches 16-16 at either end of said teeter-totter balancing board. With proper distribution of body weight the rider may cause said non-linear teeter-totter balancing board to become balanced on fulcruming roller 12 with both ends of said balancing board off of the floor or supporting surface. The rider may by skillful shifting of his body weight in first one direction and then the other cause said balancing board to oscillate back and forth without destroying the balance of said board upon rollable fulcrum 12 and without falling off of the balancing board. Such manipulation and reciprocation of said balancing board can provide exercise and amusement to the rider operating the board and to observers watching the spectacle.

ADVANTAGES OF THE INVENTION A material advantage of the Invention described in the foregoing Specification is that it provides a teetertotter balancing board with rollable fulcrum type of balancing recreational device that can provide a test of skill and provide amusement while balancing and limiting the reactive forces invoked within the structure in such a manner as to limit the more violent motions of the device.

Another advantage of the Invention is that it provides a balancing recreational device in which the rollable fulcrum is confined within a semi-enclosed cavity under the surface of the specially shaped balancing board in such manner that the rollable fulcrum is prevented from spinning out from underneath the balancing board with a violent spill for the rider.

A further advantage of the Invention is that the balancing board recreational device contemplated by this Invention will involve less danger of bodily injury to the users and riders of the device than were incurred by persons who rode previous versions of the flat board teeter-totter balancing board and log devices.

Although this Specification described but two embodiments of the Invention with certain applications thereof, it should be understood that structural or material rearrangements of adequate or equivalent parts, substitutions of equivalent functional elements and other modifications in structure can be made and other applications devised without departing from the spirit and scope of my Invention. I therefore desire that the description and drawings herein be regarded as only an illustration of my Invention and that the Invention be regarded as limited only as set forth in the following Claims, or as required by the prior art.

Having thus described my invention I claim:

1. A teeter-totter balancing recreational device provided with non linear stabilization features comprising:

A. a cylindrical shaped fulcruming roller having a uniform diametral cross-section from end to end of the roller and adapted to roll across a horizontal surface;

B. a rigid elongated non-linear balancing board adapted to cover and ride on said cylindrical roller and having 1. a uniform width slightly greater than the length of the cylindrical shaped fulcruming roller with which it must coact, 2. a length approximating the distance from the heel to the hip joint of the rider for whom the balancing device is designed, having a. a protuberant center portion occupying about two-thirds of the length of said balancing board, and

b. upturned ends forming a foot positioning trench at either end of said balancing board,

3. vertical side wall boards extending along each side of the protuberant center portion of said balancing board; and

C. the undersurface of said protuberant center portion of said balancing board defining a long are concave surface gently sloping away from the apex of the concave enclosure to form motion slowing surfaces.

2. The teeter-totter balancing recreational device described in claim 1 with a ratio of the radii of curvature of the concave under surface of the center portion of said balancing board having a range of four to one to ten to one times the radius of the cylindrical shaped fulcruming roller on which the balancing board rides.

3. The teeter-totter balancing recreational device described in claim 1 with the undersurface of the protuberant center portion of said balancing board being provided with a coating of frictionizing material to further slow the action of the balancing board.

4. The teeter-totter balancing recreational device described in claim 1 with the cylindrical fulcruming roller being provided with a coating of frictionizing material to further slow the action of the balancing board. 

1. A teeter-totter balancing recreational device provided with non linear stabilization features comprising: A. a cylindrical shaped fulcruming roller having a uniform diametral cross-section from end to end of the roller and adapted to roll across a horizontal surface; B. a rigid elongated non-linear balancing board adapted to cover and ride on said cylindrical roller and having
 1. a uniform width slightly greater than the length of the cylindrical shaped fulcruming roller with which it must coact,
 2. a length approximating the distance from the heel to the hip joint of the rider for whom the balancing device is designed, having a. a protuberant center portion occupying about two-thirds of the length of said balancing board, and b. upturned ends forming a foot positioning trench at either end of said balancing board,
 3. vertical side wall boards extending along each side of the protuberant center portion of said balancing board; and C. the undersurface of said protuberant center portion of said balancing board defining a long arc concave surface gently sloping away from the apex of the concave enclosure to form motion slowing surfaces.
 2. a length approximating the distance from the heel to the hip joint of the rider for whom the balancing device is designed, having a. a protuberant center portion occupying about two-thirds of the length of said balancing board, and b. upturned ends forming a foot positioning trench at either end of said balancing board,
 2. The teeter-totter balancing recreational device described in claim 1 with a ratio of the radii of curvature of the concave under surface of the center portion of said balancing board having a range of four to one to ten to one times the radius of the cylindrical shaped fulcruming roller on which the balancing board rides.
 3. The teeter-totter balancing recreational device described in claim 1 with the undersurface of the protuberant center portion of said balancing board being provided with a coating of frictionizing material to further slow the action of the balancing board.
 3. vertical side wall boards extending along each side of the protuberant center portion of said balancing board; and C. the undersurface of said protuberant center portion of said balancing board defining a long arc concave surface gently sloping away from the apex of the concave enclosure to form motion slowing surfaces.
 4. The teeter-totter balancing recreational device described in claim 1 with the cylindrical fulcruming roller being provided with a coating of frictionizing material to further slow the action of the balancing board. 